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Saturday girlFrankie Sandford prepares for a day at the races

20 | June 6, 2013 | www.cambridge-news.co.uk | Cambridge News

Music

Writer: Ella Walkerella.walker@cambridge-news.co.uk

FRANKIE Sandford isn’t all that chatty. Thisis a serious issue when you’re trying tointerview her on the phone.

Maybe she’s a bit sleepy (being in a girlband must be pretty tough, what with all thescreaming fans and endlessly travelling aboutin tour buses), maybe she’s overwhelmed (justa week before we speak she announced herengagement to Brighton footballer WayneBridge), or maybe she’s just so excited aboutperforming at Newmarket this weekend, hermind’s gone blank.

The 24-year-old from Upminster is one fifth ofuber glossy girl group, The Saturdays. The girls– Frankie, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, VanessaWhite and Mollie King – who all stick to a stylishuniform of super long legs, super shiny hair andsuper pop voices, are performing at SummerSaturdays Live at Newmarket Racecourse withboy band Lawson.

And it’s all Frankie is really keen to talk about:“We just plan on having a good time. We’d loveeveryone there to get involved and have a gooddance and hopefully it’ll be nice weather. We’realways up for a good time at those shows. Wemight watch a couple of races, do us a couple ofbets, and there might be some new music thatwe’ll perform as well.”

Quick to giggle and very sweet, the singerstarted out as one of eight teenybopperswho won a CBBC competition to be in the SClub 7 spin-off, S Club Juniors (fellow bandmember Rochelle included), before joiningThe Saturdays in 2007. Carving her niche in thegroup with an elfin hair crop and kooky outfits,was becoming a pop star all she dreamed itwould be? Hesitating for a second or two, shereplies: “It’s great for us to get to do what welove for a living really and I think just gettingaround so many different places and meetingnew people, it’s just so much fun. And in thesummer, we love going and doing the summershows – it’s so nice doing a show outside.”

See, I told you she was sweet, and that shecan’t wait to come to Newmarket.

The problem is she’s also so carefullymanaged and manufactured pop through andthrough, that, if you ask her about the bandshe’s got all the answers; ask her about herself,and “Oh, I don’t know…” becomes a standardresponse. The band is in charge it seems.

The Saturdays’ music (think Ego, Higher andMy Heart Takes Over) is the kind that, if you’reover the age of 14, you listen to exclusively insecret or while getting ready for a night out.It’s hard to justify the cheesy pop melodies,saccharine lyrics and dance-tastic chorusesotherwise, even though the epic, guaranteed keychange that kicks in two-thirds into every one oftheir singles is pretty addictive.

They make brilliant, happy-go-lucky stuff;granted, they’re no Girls Aloud, but still, they’renot bad for a guilty pleasure, so it’s a wonderit’s taken them 11 attempts to (finally) nab theirfirst No 1 single, What About Us.

“Oh God, we were so excited,” Frankiesqueals. “We had like a big party and we wentfor dinner and now we’re just like ‘I wonder howlong we can drag it out for before it gets boringfor everyone?’ We’ll be living off that No 1 for therest of our lives! It just felt like five years downthe line, we’re so lucky to get one, you know?”

And they are – they had to knock JustinTimberlake off the top spot to do it. Does shethink they’re capable of getting another one?“Ooh hopefully, but I’m happy with the one, ifwe don’t get another one at least we’ve got theone.”

Steering her away from talk of the group, theconversation dries up again. I try for some girly

wedding chat instead:Me: Congratulations on the engagement! Was

it a surprise?Frankie: Yeah it was a big surprise, and it was

great so, yeah it was great.Me: Have you started planning the big day

yet?Frankie: No, no, everyone keeps saying that

and I’m like ‘I only just got engaged! I don’tknow!’ but it will probably be next year. Youknow what? I haven’t got much of an idea ofwhat I want. I’m so not a proper girl! I don’tknow what I want.

Me: Are you starting to feel broody now Unaand Rochelle are mums?

Frankie: I don’t know, not really, not at themoment (she laughs). I’ve got a wedding toplan!

Two weeks later, this pops up on her Twitterfeed: “@FrankieTheSats: Some big news fromme today! Wayne and I are having a baby. Weare both SO happy and can’t wait for his or hersarrival! ”

I feel hurt; I thought we were finally gettingsomewhere.

What Frankie is good at sharing and gettingvocal about, though, is her on-going battle withdepression. After having to take time off fromthe band before their All Fired Up Tour last

year, she agreedto do an incrediblycandid interview withGlamour magazineabout her illness.

“I think it’s had a biggerimpact than I first everthought really,” she muses.“With Twitter I get so manypeople saying how it’s helped themand meet people all the time and it’sso nice, so rewarding for me, becauseI was so nervous about it and didn’t knowhow it was going to be received, and I think itjust goes to show that more people need to talkabout it really.”

She explains that the stress of the job, thenerves and everything else all fade awaywhen she goes up on stage: “It’s great whenyou get up there. If you’re tired or in a badmood, the minute you get up there it’s just greatand all that (nerves) just goes out the window.

“Performing at Wembley was like a massivemoment for me. I kind of can’t remember it allproperly I was just so over excited.”

The Saturdays have a summer packed withoutdoor gigs (Newmarket included, of course),their fifth album, and hopefully a tour in thenew year as well as: “Rochelle’s new baby, sowe’ve got everything going on!”

So I finish by asking what Frankie hasplanned for herself, where does she see herselfin five years? “Oh goodness, God knows whatI’ll be doing in five years’ time. I think the lastfew years have shown me that you never knowwhat’s gonna happen so I don’t think I couldeven plan for five years.”

FrankieSandford:“I’m so not a propergirl! I don’t knowwhat I want!”

As the glamorous girls gear up forNewmarket Racecourses’ Summer SaurdaysLive, ELLA WALKER talks weddings, toppingthe charts and that Glamour interview withone fifth of The Saturdays

� Summer Saturdays Live with Lawson & TheSaturdays, July Course, Newmarket, Saturday,June 8, gates open at 1.45pm, music starts afterthe last race of the day. Tickets £15-£29 adults/ £12-£16 children from 08445793010 / https://newmarkettickets.thejockeyclub.co.uk/Online

Cambridge News | www.cambridge-news.co.uk | June 6, 2013 | 21

FYI: The Saturdays won best band at the Glamour Awards this week where Frankie showed off her bumpand new hair extensions, plus promised the band will be staying together despite becoming mums

>> On Lawson’s first encounterwith Cambridge – a gig at ThePortland Arms that had an audienceof three:“That night is pretty famous inLawson’s journey. It would havebeen good if there had beenpeople there but it was very earlydays.”>> On why he got into music:“My dad used to sing Beatlessongs and old 60s classics and Iused to sit there and be fascinatedby that. I was like: ‘How do youdo that? I’d love to be able toplay and sing like that’. My dadtaught me a few chords andthen after that I taught myself. Iowe everything to my dad reallybecause he’s the one that got meinto music. My mum can’t sing anote, she’s tone deaf!>> On forming the band in 2009:“It was a bit of a strange comingtogether really. Out of the blueAdam had stumbled across myacoustic Myspace page. He’s agreat drummer, so I just thought:‘Why not?’.”(They were joinedby Ryan Fletcher – a friend ofAndy’s from music college – andJoel Pleat, a friend of Ryan’s fromschool.>> On his life-saving brain surgeryaged 19:“That was a very difficult time inmy life. It was like being in a filmbecause it just didn’t feel real. I

was in hospital for three months,which was quite difficult. BecauseI had lost hearing in my right ear Isuffered really bad dizziness andvertigo. You don’t realise it butyour ears are a massive part ofyour balance, which enables youto walk, and when you lose oneside your brain basically doesn’thave a clue what’s going on, soyou have to learn to live with oneear, which can take a while.”>> On their debut album,Chapman Square, which chartedat No 4:“You never know how people aregoing to take your first album but Ididn’t read any bad reviews. I thinkpeople appreciated the fact thatwe wrote it ourselves and it meansa lot to us. It’s very personal.”>> On writing the album,drawing on his break-up from TheSaturdays’ singer Mollie King:“It was sort of a healing processfor me. I was down for quite awhile and I used the inspirationand the sadness to write songs.Personally that helps me, buteveryone’s different. I find lyricscome easier when you’re writingabout something that’s happenedto you. Mollie’s a lovely girl.I’d never have a bad word tosay about her. We did have anamazing time and I think she likesthe album. I think she’s a bit of aLawson fan deep down!”

Lawson

Lead vocalist and guitaristAndy Brown tellsLOUISE MARTIN about hislife-saving brain surgery,his painful split from TheSaturdays’ Mollie King andLawson’s first gig inCambridge – that onlythree people turned up for.

SATURDAYS ONSATURDAY: Frankie

Sandford and the restof The Saturdays,

inset, will be at the JulyCourse, Newmarket,

this weekend